


The Greenglass Twins

by DixieDale



Category: Garrison's Gorillas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:54:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22269739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DixieDale/pseuds/DixieDale
Summary: The Greenglass twins!  Were they really jinxes, as reputed, the pair of them?  Or were they just clumsy, maybe not overly-bright?   Or was one, at least one, perhaps both, something quite different?  It looked like Garrison and his men were going to get the opportunity to find out.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	The Greenglass Twins

"So, yeah, we've been handed a new one. And we're supposed to take a couple of guys in with us, name of Greenglass, both of them. Brothers, maybe. Well, probably. I mean, it's not like the name is common enough for us to land two of them without their being related in some way," Garrison said, taking a weary sip from his glass. 

He DID hate having ride-alongs; his team just wasn't overly conducive to the practice, and frankly, the ride-alongs mostly didn't have the training to stay out of trouble and keep themselves alive. That meant he, and the team, had two missions, actually - the one they were assigned, and baby-sitting whoever HQ, in their infinite wisdom, decided to dump on them.

It was the sputtering from his two companions that drew his immediate attention away from his pessimistic musings and back to the table at the back of Silk's.

"Lord help you, Garrison! Who did you piss off up at HQ THIS time??!" Reynolds said, shaking his head. Well, no one could deny that Lieutenant Craig Garrison did seem to have that effect on some people. Of course, for various reasons, depending on the individual involved.

"The Greenglass twins! Oh my freaking Aunt Nellie! Must have been someone with a real ax to grind, that's for damned sure, to hand you THOSE two," Ainsley agreed, shuddering as he threw back the contents of his glass, reached out to pour another. 

The scary thing was, Garrison thought that shudder had been from the mention of that name 'Greenglass', not from the inferior quality of the whiskey. No, it wasn't good, by a long shot, but was probably at least a half-dozen steps up from what Ainsley was known to drink on a regular basis. That did NOT bode well for the direction of this conversation. Or for the mission, it would seem.

"So," Garrison asked, frowning at the looks of intense pity he was being given by Ainsley and Reynolds, "just who ARE the Greenglass twins, and why are you looking at me like that? Like you're wondering whether to send flowers to my funeral, or spend the money on a last round on the house in my memory?"

"Garrison, you poor soul, have you not heard about Mike and Matt Greenglass??! Surely you heard about that little 'mix-up' we had in Brussels a couple of months ago," Reynolds said with an expression that seemed to be a mixture of pain and exasperation. "A simple little job - no, it really was, for a change - and between the two of them, we're lucky we got out alive. Supposedly one's a jinx, though no one can figure out which one. Hell, maybe the other one is too. Klutzy as hell, that's for sure, and no common sense. One of them fumbled the pickup at the drop, and we had to start all over again. The Resistance guys were not impressed. We get the job done, I'd assigned them to get us transport - not a problem, right? Cars, trucks all over the damned place. The one they bring back? Runs outta gas before we make it to the outskirts. And the damned gauge WAS working just fine, they just didn't LOOK! One of them bumps into me just when we're getting in position to pass the sentries, starts apologizing in English, can you believe??! German soldiers all around, including the officer we're trying to avoid, and Greenglass is talking English! And not quietly, either!"

"It was on account of the Greenglass twins that my team almost got wiped out during a TRAINING exercise in Scotland," Alex Ainsley said. "I mean, a training exercise?? And a beginning one, for a new team, so nothing too dire! Heard them called jinxes before; now I believe it! That and just not overly-bright! They weren't scheduled to go out on that particular exercise, just me and my guys, along with the new team just being put together. BUT, they're making themselves useful by running errands for everyone. Somehow, don't ask me how, they manage to get US the plan and layout for the exercise we were supposed to be on, but the artillery crew getting the one from the week before! Shit, we had shells coming down close enough to part our hair with the debris! 

"And a couple of days later? That adder curled up into my blankets??! Never got out of a bed that fast in my life! The guys up there said that was real unusual; that while the little suckers are poisonous, they don't come around people much. Well, turns out, this one didn't either, all by itself! The twins seem to LIKE snakes, and were carrying this one around, playing with it, handing it off to the other one for awhile then back again, called it 'Berkie', and no, don't ask me why, I don't know and I don't care! And then, when it came time for chow, they just sat the damned thing down and forgot about it. So, it looks for a nice warm dark spot, and decides my bedroll is just the place!"

Garrison's eyes widened. "THESE are the guys you were telling me about??! What the hell are they still doing working with ANY of the teams??! From what I heard, they should be kept away from the teams, hell, anything to do with the war at all!"

"Have to say I agree, but it appears not everyone does, not if they're headed out with you. Yes, we thought we had them safely sidelined after that utterly screwed-up mess with Micah Davis' crew, the finale of which was one of them almost dropping that pipe wrench, a wrench he had no reason even to be touching but somehow managed to detach from its holder just by leaning against it, when the sub was running 'silent' with that destroyer sitting right on top of them. Luckily one of the crew caught it before it hit, but it was a close run thing. But if they're back in rotation, looks like they're back in the thick of things, and it looks like THIS time, they're YOUR problem."

Craig Garrison groaned, thinking about how his guys were going to react. If it got too bad, the Greenglass twins might get sidelined permanently. No, he figured HQ wouldn't like that, even a little. 

Not that he normally would have put any credence in such a thing as a jinx, but the stories he'd been hearing, well, he could understand how they'd gotten the reputation.

But how the hell he was supposed to pull off the new mission, getting into Germany to intercept that double-agent before he had time to pass over that list of deep-cover Allied agents, if he had to organize and control not only his own guys but now two men considered far and wide as being jinxes. Or maybe just utter klutzes. Or what was the polite term - 'intellectually-challenged'?

"So, listen up. We've got a job, and we've got ride-alongs again. And both look to be more than a little challenging."

He explained, and the men looked back, varying expressions on their faces.

"Craig, surely you do not believe in jinxes?!! You are an educated man!" Actor protested.

"I would have said not, Actor. But I know there are some people who seem to carry a dark cloud around with them, trouble just waiting to happen. Sometimes that person is just clumsy as hell, or not overly-bright. Sometimes they have an exaggerated sense of what would be funny, only it never turns out really being funny. I've known people who seemed to be accident-prone, I know that."

"You mean like the little Limey here?" Casino snorted. "Can fall over lint, not half as funny as he thinks neither. Come to think of it, that 'not overly-bright' kinda fits too. Whatta ya say, Indian? Think Sticky-Fingers here is a jinx too?"

Goniff was looking a little annoyed, scowling, muttering "am NOT a ruddy jinx!"

Chief hurried to answer their safecracker before things got out of hand. It just didn't seem the thing to call a team mate, even in jest, not as much as they all had to depend on each other. Better to try and balance it all out before Goniff got on the defensive and turned all moody on them.

"You're a fine one to talk, Pappy. Seems part of that fits you well enough, particularly where women are concerned. That dark cloud, the not too bright, maybe some of the rest."

Then, with a slightly sly look, he added, "course, the Warden has a little of that 'dark cloud' stuff, what with him coming back bloody more often than not."

Casino snorted, "yeah, with all his 'just one more little thing, since we're already over here', I can see the 'trouble just waiting to happen' fitting, too."

Garrison let it go on for a little, then pulled them back into line.

"Alright, knock it off. I'm just saying, we need to be more careful than usual. We watch their every move, try and keep them from doing anything stupid, anything that could blow it all out of the water."

*  
Garrison sighed as he surveyed the battered and scowling Casino. 

"Just how did you manage to foul the lines? I checked the rigging myself earlier." 

The rigging had three hook-up spots to the harness the men wore when tackling the practice moves, but the safecracker had gone off the tower jump with only one fully attached. That one, not being sturdy enough to bear three times the strain it was intended to, had given way and Casino had landed in a sad pile on the ground.

"Hell, the twins were clowning around, and one of them stumbled back and shoved me off before I was hooked up right. Lucky I didn't break my neck!"

The obstacle course proved to be another area where the Greenglass twins created excitement. 

Both twins were wide-eyed with shock as Actor rushed to pick Goniff up from where the twins had collided coming over the climbing wall, slamming the Englishman, perched at the top giving encouragement, off and into a nearby tree. Surveying the damage, two gashes obtained from the projecting metal wall supports, along with some contusions that proved that the tree was sturdier than Goniff's body, Actor wryly commented, "I think it's bigger than you are, Goniff, and more well made."

He received a nasty look and a growled, "could'a ruddy well told you that without 'aving to go proving it." 

The look Goniff gave the ever-so-apologetic twins wasn't one of anger, more one of bewilderment. Frankly, he didn't see how they even managed that collision or knocking him off; didn't seem to him it should have been possible as far to the side as he'd been.

"Craig, I am starting to reconsider my stance on jinxes. Two injuries in two days really IS something extraordinary," Actor told Garrison while he was cleaning up the debris from patching up their pickpocket.

Casino had seen the shadow from where he was fixing a pot of coffee. The only thing in that direction was the door to the cellar, and that was pretty much off limits except to Sergeant Major Rawlins and anyone he pulled into service. Setting the pot aside, he followed after.

"Sheesh, Greenglass! Put that match out! What the hell do ya think yer doing?!" 

The figure straightened in the dim light, waving out the lit match he held in his fingers. 

"Just wondering what kind of a system they used in a place this big and this old. Is it a standard furnace and boiler setup, or . . ." and Greenglass went into some specialized language that Casino figured was somehow related to boilers and furnaces, but didn't have a clue as to what any of it meant.

"Don't know about the furnace, other than it's meant to use coal, which we don't get much of. But you get that match any closer to that boiler and yer gonna blow us all to hell. This place is off limits, and Sergeant Major is gonna be pissed if he knows yer tinkering around down here. Come on."

Later Casino told the others, "not too bright, that's for damned sure. Came close to blowing us all up!"

**  
"You sick or something, mate?" Goniff asked cautiously, opening the door to the bathroom where he'd heard the groaning coming from. Well, it seems like the case; the man leaning over the sink WAS pale and shaking, sweat popping out on his forehead.

Matt shuddered in response. "Headache. A real mother of a headache."

"There's aspirin in the kit; it's locked away, but I know 'ow to wiggle it. Wait right there, or go back, lay down. I'll bring it."

"It's too light in there, makes my head hurt worse, like it's going to explode."

Goniff narrowed his eyes in thought, hesitated, then nodded briskly. 

"Then you come with me; got just the place. Rigged it out for me when I need some alone time, but it's got space for you."

He didn't make a practice of sharing his snug places with anyone, but this guy looked like he was about to pass out. And if light bothered him that much, well, that little cubby was dark enough, and outfitted enough he'd be comfortable resting there.

Getting the man settled in, bringing him a glass of water and two aspirin, he hesitated, then asked, "you get these very often? This bad? Can't see being up in an airplane or in a sub is gonna be all that good for you, you know. And you get one of these bad ones when we're out there, the bullets flying and all - "

"No, not often, not like this. I'll be okay for the job. After I've had one, it's usually a long time before the next one."

He wasn't lying, as such. That was how it had been in the past, but he wasn't sure that was going to be the case from now on. He'd never even HAD headaches til the past couple of months, but the doctor had said that, once they started, they would get progressively worse, til he couldn't function any more. 

But he couldn't have Goniff trying to get him out of the mix. He had so little time and he had accomplished so little so far. Surely, just a little more time would make it worthwhile.

Goniff got back to the Common Room a little while later, only to have the other Greenglass brother ask, "have you seen Matt? He disappeared awhile ago."

Goniff nodded, "not feeling tip-top. Tucked 'im away with a couple aspirin in a nice cozy spot, out of the light, like 'e said 'e needed."

Mike nodded in appreciation. He'd started to get the headaches too, but obviously not as bad; he'd been able to handle them with massaging his temples and the back of his neck. He didn't look forward to them getting worse, but he knew they would. It was only a question of time before Matt was no longer going to be able to function; it was probably time to talk his brother into bowing out of the action before someone got hurt - Matt or someone else.

But when Matt reappeared, he seemed okay, and while they talked in private about it maybe being time to pull back, let someone know, Matt insisted on just a little more time. 

"I can handle it for awhile longer, Mike. I don't want to give up this soon. This is too important to me."

*  
The prep for the mission was going okay - not great, but okay. Garrison had decided BOTH brothers were clumsy as hell, and while they acted smart enough sometimes, what Casino had told him about one of the brothers messing around the boiler did make him have to wonder. Of course, Goniff's news was a little worrisome, as well, but there'd been no reoccurrence of that blinding headache, so maybe it was just a one-time thing.

*  
Actor was soon reaching for the burn cream, hoping there was enough left in the jar. 

"What the hell happened, Actor?" Garrison asked from the doorway, from where the yells had brought him. "We're lucky if the water's any more than room temperature any more!"

"Well, I assure you it was more than room temperature when I started to take my shower, Craig. It sputtered, like it was going to fail entirely, then it came out boiling hot! If I hadn't reached back to get the towel, I would have more than just a burned arm and shoulder."

Well, that was obvious from the color of Actor's skin, even a few blisters popping out in one spot along his forearm.

"I'll have Gil check the system. You really WERE lucky you didn't get scalded worse."

It was a remorseful Greenglass twin who apologized to Actor. "Just, when I realized how cold the water was, I figured I'd tweak the boiler some. Guess I went a little overboard. I'm real sorry you got hurt."

When a frowning Garrison reminded him he'd already been told to stay away from the furnace and boiler, Greenglass just gave him a sheepish shrug, "yeah, I know, but I was just trying to help."

"So, clumsy AND not overly-bright," was Garrison's grim determination. "Along with too curious and too helpful."

He was SO not looking forward to taking that pair on the upcoming job. He confided in Gil Rawlins, "before, just from the briefing I got, I put our chances at maybe 75/25. Now, after a few days with the twins, I decide it's 50/50 max on even making it back!"

Thinking over the past few days, Sergeant Major Rawlins couldn't really disagree.

Well, earlier that morning one of the twins deciding to help in setting up for the final briefing, without anyone's knowledge. Somehow, and it wasn't quite clear how, that had led to the essential maps smoldering. Luckily Chief had smelled smoke and dashed in, preventing them from being unreadable.

Things were in line, time was counting down, and they piled onto an airplane and jumped out somewhere the pilot told them was near the German border. Rolling their chutes into a mass, hiding them in the nearby field, they headed off toward town.

"Good luck, brother."

"You too. Hey, so far, so good, right?"

**

"What are you doing?" Mike hissed as he moved in from searching the next room, knowing there was no reason for his brother to be talking on the phone, in German. All he was supposed to be doing was guarding the door while Mike and Chief and Goniff searched the place, Casino tapped the safe, and Garrison and Actor dealt with the double-agent downstairs.

Matt uttered a few quick words, ending with a harsh "Raus!", put down the receiver and slowly turned to look at his brother.

And then, Mike knew. Realized he should have known long before. 

{"Maybe I did know, or at least suspected. But I wouldn't let my mind go there, just couldn't accept the possibility,"} he thought with despair. 

When they'd gotten that diagnosis from the doctor, they'd made a pact, determined to make their remaining time count for something. Their remaining time - two to five years at the most, supposedly, though the doctor felt they would maintain their strength, their abilities all the way through, at least til the last few months. Once the headaches came, though, they would know their time was drawing to a close. So they set out to make an impact, to help the causes they felt most strongly about. And they had worked together on some projects, separately on others. 

And then the war came, and they were pulled into it, pulled into uniforms. They found out quickly that they disagreed on who was in the right of it, and after several failed attempts to bring their twin over to their side, they stopped discussing it. Just did the jobs they were told to do, to the best of their abilities. Maybe, once the war was over, if they survived that long, they'd discuss things, but not til then.

Neither really thought their original determination to make their limited time really count would take them in such different directions, could lead to such an end. Til one brother realized what was happening, realized his twin was sabotaging operations, trying to do as much damage as he could in the time he had left. And he knew he had to stop it, and stop it he did, in the only way he could think of.

A quick dash out the door, Matt right behind him, Mike sounding the warning to Chief who was in the next hall, let the men get out before the swarming of the German soldiers could envelop them. If there was silence between the brothers, well, no one was doing much talking, they were trying too hard to escape, to stay alive.

Once they reached the exit point and settled down for the long wait ahead, the Greenglass twins disappeared into the shadows and walking some distance away. Then and only then was the silence replaced by quiet whispers, too low to travel to the other men. 

"No, I won't keep quiet!" Mike hissed in frustrated anger. "I won't let you get them killed, them or any one else we're working with! They don't have to know everything, just about what the doctor said, as long as it stops! I'll tell Garrison, he can get you pulled out of rotation, maybe me too - you know the doctors aren't going to argue with that, not after they confirm what we both know. I can't have much time before it would have been necessary, anyway. We'll stick together, just like always."

Matt snarled, pulling his pistol, gesturing wildly with it, "and you'll be okay with that? Spending the next few months curled up somewhere screaming your head off? Well, not me, not before I've done something more, something - "

And then the blinding pain hit, causing his body to convulse, once, twice, and without any conscious effort on his part, the gun went off.

Matt looked down at the smoking pistol in his hand, looked down at his twin brother laying on the ground, eyes (oh so similar, those eyes) meeting. 

"I never meant for this to happen," he whispered, realizing just how far he had let his beliefs carry him. He loved his brother, just thought Mike was misguided, would eventually see the light. Maybe it was the disease that pushed him this far; he prayed that was so, that he hadn't let anything else bring about this end.

Mike managed a small regretful smile. He had tried to ignore the differences between them, pretend they didn't really exist, didn't really matter. Thought eventually Matt would see the light. Then, tried to ignore the signs that Matt was succumbing to the disease faster than he himself was. That had gone SO well, all of it! He let out a low, strangled laugh, ending in a bloody cough.

"I know. I didn't either. Never thought it would come to this. What are you going to tell the family?" {"Wonderful! NOW I'm trying to guilt him? Shoulda thought of that earlier. A little late, isn't it, Mike, you clumsy idiot??!"}

Matt shuddered, then somehow dredged up a faint smile of his own, though he wasn't sure where he found the strength. 

"Not my problem, brother mine. Not my problem. That's on someone else's plate now. We have someplace else to be, I think," as he heard the sounds that meant Garrison and the others were only seconds away. {"Together, please. Somehow, let us be together."}

Mike's eyes widened as he realized just what his brother meant, started to dispute that, started to, but Death beckoned him then, with a stern hand, and Mike Greenglass obeyed. His last sight was of Matt's hand raising that pistol once more, the last thing he heard was the retort as it went off. 

Together, they lay in the dim light. Together, as they'd been all their lives. Now, together in death, their disagreement was over, and a sad peace prevailed.

And Matt had been right - it was up to Lieutenant Craig Garrison to figure out how to tell the Greenglass family, what to include in that final letter telling them of their double loss. Finding the journals both men kept told them a story they'd never expected - two brothers, so alike in some ways, even to the illness affecting their brains, an illness that would have killed them, had it not happened by other means. So alike, except in which side they'd taken in this war.

"And what will you say, Craig? Will you tell them the truth, that one brother died at the other's hand? That one was a traitor to the uniform he wore, though loyal to the cause he privately espoused?"

Craig Garrison leaned his head back against his chair and sighed, wearily ran his hand through his hair. 

"To what purpose, Actor? How will that help matters? They've lost two sons, two brothers. Isn't the pain they will already feel enough? Should I add to it, multiply it immeasurably, just for the sake of honesty?"

"Perhaps not. But the others who worked with them? Ainsley, Reynolds, Davis? What will you say to them?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"Better tell THEM the truth, anyhow, Lieutenant," Chief offered from the window ledge. "Might help them see things better, watch out for things."

"The Indian's right, Warden. Ainsley, Reynolds, Davis - they had a feeling something was off kilter; didn't let themselves really see what it was, figure it out cause of them two being brothers and all. Maybe it's something they need to understand, to remember."

"Understand, Casino? I don't understand, and I was right there!" Garrison forced out. "Could YOU kill your own brother like that? How could he? No matter their differences, isn't blood supposed to be thicker than water?"

"Blood MIGHT be thicker than water, Lieutenant; always 'eard that said anyway," Goniff said, his voice more than a little skeptical, while his face was as grim as the others of the team, "though I'm not so sure of that. Seen plenty in my time that made me figure blood sure wasn't thicker than greed, or envy, or wanting the same woman, the same man, or just being ruddy pissed off, even thicker than just the need to be a right bastard. Seems it's not thicker than politics, neither. Sure as 'ell not thicker than some worm or such they 'ad growing in their brain."

"But twins??!" They could see Garrison was agonizing over this. As usual, he was going back over what had happened, what he could have done to make things come out differently. Not the final outcome, in this case, but at least - somehow - not this agonizing.

Actor spoke up. "Being twins can make you closer, yes. But it does not make you think the same thoughts, feel the same loyalties, necessarily. You are still different individuals, after all. And, Craig, they were both sure in their beliefs, were motivated by loyalty to those beliefs. They fought for the side they truly believed in, each in their own way. Trust me on this. Remember, I've read their journals, both brothers having the need to write out their feelings. They each sorrowed that their brother did not 'understand', did not bear the same beliefs, but had long since given up on being able to bring them to agreement. I find it perhaps ironic that in each journal, toward the end, I found the same quote from 'Lucasta' by Richard Lovelace."

Garrison looked puzzled just for a moment, then nodded, knowing what that quote had to be.

But, surprisingly, it was Goniff who spoke the words Actor and Garrison were remembering in their minds. Of course, it being Goniff, he added his own special touch - if not to the words, then to the intent.

"Lucasta? That bit about - 'I could not love thee, dear, so much, Lov'd I not 'onour more?' Maybe so, but don't see it applied 'ere. Figure it was more that brain thing, than anything else. Besides, I always kinda wondered if that bloke in the poem wasn't just bored with all that 'nunnerie' of 'er 'chaste breast' and 'quiet minde' and was looking for some excitement. Like when Casino gets the notion for a good bar fight and decides someone's looking at 'im wrong, you know. Maybe the bloke was just figuring that was a good excuse for taking off, something she wouldn't be as pissed at 'im about afterwards? Wanting to go 'ave 'is fun, but not wanting to be burning any bridges with 'er neither, just in case."

Garrison knew it wasn't the moment for laughter, but between that cynical approach to a classic poem, (one he'd never heard expressed quite that way before), and the look of sheer disbelief and horror on Actor's face as he stared slack-jawed at their resident pickpocket, he was severely tempted.

Now they all listened to the con man as he vehemently protested Goniff's words.

"I do not know where or how you heard that poem, Goniff, but I assure you that is NOT the meaning! Although I suppose I should expect nothing less from one of your low tastes and proclivities and level of education! That is truly unforgiveable, comparing Lovelace's gallant hero, headed off to war, leaving his beloved behind, with Casino longing for a bar fight! I shudder what you would make of other of the classic poems, if you indeed KNOW any others! And I pray you do NOT, because I do not want to be bludgeoned with your crass and vulgar interpretations of some of the most beautiful and meaningful words ever written!"

Of course, he didn't stop there, but since he was increasingly shifting into Italian, no one but Garrison understood the all of it.

Garrison watched their Englishman, now carelessly shuffling that deck of cards, laying out his usual weird version of Solitaire, apparently not paying much attention to the diatribe Actor was delivering. 

Goniff, mouth twitching at one corner, looked up at Garrison - gave a conspiratorial wink and nod of satisfaction at the amusement in Garrison's eyes.

{"Well, at least you're not beating up on yourself anymore, Craig, least not as much,"} Goniff thought to himself with satisfaction. That was worth even more than setting Actor back on his heels, that was, to his mind anyway. Of course, that was worth a heck of a lot too; ruddy arrogant know-it-all NEEDED a good take-down every once in awhile, in Goniff's opinion.

Chief and Casino looked at each other and shrugged. They didn't know what the hell all that had been about, but it sure was entertaining! It wasn't often they got to see the Italian turn that particular shade of purple.

**Author's Note:**

> 'To Lucasta, Going To The Wars' - Richard Lovelace, 1649
> 
> Tell me not, (sweet,) I am unkinde,  
> That from the nunnerie  
> Of thy chaste breast and quiet minde  
> To warre and armes I flie.
> 
> True: a new Mistresse now I chase,  
> The first foe in the field;  
> And with a stronger faith imbrace  
> A sword, a horse, a shield.
> 
> Yet this inconstancy is such,  
> As you too shall adore;  
> I could not love thee, dear, so much,  
> Lov'd I not Honour more.


End file.
